Lieck Elementary Counselor Corner
January 2022
Counselor Message
Wow! Can you believe we are at the half way point of this school year? It has passed so quickly. We celebrated us all being back together, we learned about making safe healthy choices during Red Ribbon Week, we explored careers and financial awareness with Junior Achievement in a Day, we began the process of preparing our 5th graders for Middle School and course selection, and we celebrated and learned about appreciating each other during Inclusive Schools Week.
We have enjoyed working with our little lions and are looking forward to many great things in the new year such as No Name-calling Week, Random Acts of Kindness Week, celebrating our military students, and many more exciting things.
Thank you,
Mrs. Zigmond & Ms. Garza
Pillar of Character: Respect
The Six Pillars of Character are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Each of the Six Pillars of Character help instill a positive school climate and a culture of kindness, making schools a safe environment for students to learn.
What is having respect?
Having respect means you feel positively toward a person because of how they affect others. For example, you may have respect for
- a person that treats other people kindly
- someone who worked hard to achieve something
- someone who overcame a challenge
You can have respect for others, and you can have respect for yourself. Self-respect means you feel good about who you are, the types of choices you make, and the impact you have on others.
What is showing respect?
Being respectful means you act in a way that shows care for how your actions may impact others. We can show respect for people, places, and things. For example:
- Using kind or polite words even when you're upset
- Using manners like sharing, waiting your turn, saying please and thank you
- Accepting difference or at least disagreeing with kind words
- Being careful not to damage places or things
- Using a quiet voice or calm behavior in public places
- Sharing resources, only taking what you really need
Examples of what respect is:
- You admire (respect) a historical figure who stood up for what he/she believed in, even when it was hard.
- You are quiet in a library to show that you care about (respect) others' need to read without interruption.
- You follow your parents' rules to show them you care (respect) how they feel about the situation.
- You don't call people names because you care about (respect) their feelings.
- You don't damage public places because you care about (respect) preserving the quality of the place and other people's right to enjoy it.
- You don't hit or otherwise hurt people because you care about (respect) their well-being.
- You use other people's toys with care (respect) so you don't break them.
- You dress, speak, and act in a way that shows you care about what you know is right and safe, because you care about (respect) yourself and your well-being.
- You don't interfere with other people's right to look, think, or act differently than you because you care about (respect) their feelings and well-being.
Why respect is important?
To understand why respect is important, think about what life would be like if we don't treat each other with respect. Since respect is about caring whether our words and actions have a hurtful affect on other people, in a world without respect, no one would care whether they were hurting other people. They might do things that are dangerous or mean and not care if other people were harmed.
All of us in society need to treat each other with respect if we want to feel safe and live peacefully together. Respect is important because it means we treat others the way we want to be treated. So if we don't treat others kindly, how can we expect them to be kind in return?
Key ideas:
- Follow the Golden Rule.
- Be accepting of differences.
- Be courteous to others.
- Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements.
- Be considerate of others’ feelings.
How can parents model respect?
- Listen. Make eye contact when your child is talking to you.
- Use good language, words and a tone of voice that would be acceptable to you if your child was talking to you.
- Value your child’s need for fun and time with their friends.
- Give your child space to have their own opinions and preferences.
- Value your child’s need for some privacy.
- Ask before using or borrowing something of theirs.
- Call your child what they wish to be called. Resist using names or nicknames that they feel are embarrassing or that they have outgrown.
- Let your child answer questions for themselves
- Model and teach your children good manners and insist that they use them.
- Demonstrate and encourage healthy ways to resolve conflicts both inside and outside of your home.
- Allow your children to solve their own day to day problems. Help when you are asked.
- Seek out opportunities for your child to meet and make friends with a wide variety of children. Make sure your circle of friends is diverse.
- Talk with your child about the way people are different and the same. Emphasize our common humanity while also appreciating our uniqueness.
- Model respect for your family and people that you encounter in the community.
-talkingtreebooks.com
Family Ties
Below you will see some resources we have provided for you such as videos, read aloud ideas and hands-on family activities. We hope you enjoy these ideas we have shared with you.
Great Read Alouds on Goal Setting
Create a Vision Board for the New Year!
Middle School Transition
By now, Ms. Garza has visited all fifth grade classes and guided students through the registration process. Students have been eager to select their classes for upcoming 2022-2023 school year. Before you know it these Lieck Lions will be off to middle school.
Students may also apply for one of our magnet middle schools, Jones Magnet School or Zachry Magnet School. Information will be forthcoming for those who wish to make a request for your child to attend a different middle school over the one they are currently slated to attend. For registration purposes, all course selections must be made for your child's designated middle school. If accepted into one of the magnet schools or approved to attend another middle school, all course selections will be automatically transferred. If you have any questions about this process, please contact the counselors. The application window for Magnet school opens on November 29, 2021-Jan. 14, 2022. Please feel free to contact your child's counselor with any questions.
Community Resources
Lieck Counselors
Monique Zigmond
Counselors Care
@NISDWholeChild